California Dreamin '

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California Dreamin ' is a folk - pop song released in 1965 that became famous through The Mamas and the Papas and became a million seller .

History of origin

Michelle Phillips from Mamas & Papas described the genesis of the song in an interview with National Public Radio . As a result, she was married to John Phillips in December 1962 and lived in New York City . At the end of 1963 there was a severe winter there, which gave rise to thoughts of the warmer homeland of California . A visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral inspired the content of the second verse.

The protest singer Barry McGuire had received a recording contract with the newly founded record label Dunhill Records in May 1965. After his protest song Eve of Destruction climbed to the top of the pop charts in September 1965, work on his album This Precious Time began in October 1965 . For this he invited the Mamas & Papas he knew as a background choir.

John Phillips offered the title California Dreamin ' , written by him in New York, for the McGuire LP . The producer and label owner Lou Adler was immediately convinced of the vocal abilities of the troupe: "That is probably what George Martin must have had when he first heard the Beatles ." Therefore, on October 1, 1965, they received a record deal from Dunhill Records. Their vocal style was characterized by close harmony voices and counterpoint singing, which they used as the background choir for Barry McGuire's interpretation of California Dreamin ' . The recordings with sound engineer Dayton "Bones" Howe were made in October 1965 in Studio 3 of the Western Recorders - Los Angeles recording studios . The instrumental parts came from PF Sloan (guitar), Larry Knechtel (keyboards), Joe Osborn (bass), Peter Pilafian (electric violin) and Hal Blaine (drums). Osborn and Blaine were part of a group of studio musicians known in the trade as The Wrecking Crew . The harmonica solo was performed by Barry McGuire.

Cover version of Mamas & Papas

John Phillips asked about the recording session whether the Mamas & Papas are also likely to release the song on which Barry McGuire replied. "Of course, you have not written the song" Then it was decided that no California Dreamin ' , the follow-up single Barry McGuire of Eve of Destruction was supposed to be, but This Precious Time (November 1965; Dunhill # 4019) - the background vocals again came from Mamas & Papas.

Mamas & Papas - California Dreamin '

With the Mamas & Papas, however, California Dreamin 'was not completely re-produced, but the master recording made in October 1965 with Barry McGuire and produced by Lou Adler , sound engineer was Dayton "Bones" Howe. Only two changes were made to this on the day of recording in November 1965. Barry McGuire's vocal track was replaced by Denny Doherty's lead vocals (one octave higher), instead of the harmonica solo, a jazzy improvised alto flute solo by alto saxophonist and flautist Clifford "Bud" Shank , who was flown in for the purpose, made it one of the most famous flute solos rock music advanced. If you only hear the left stereo channel, McGuire's vocals can still be heard - atmospherically recorded through other microphones. Even remnants of the harmonica solo could not be completely eliminated on the four-track recording. It remained with the distinctive intro of two acoustic guitars (a 12-string guitar played by John Phillips and a 6-string guitar by PF Sloan ) in A minor. The vocals and instrumentation were divided into the four audio tracks of the Ampex 300 as follows : Track 1 (female voices), Track 2 (guitars and piano), Track 3 (male voices) and Track 4 (bass and drums).

California Dreamin '/ Somebody Groovy (Dunhill # 4020) hit the market in November 1965 immediately after the Barry McGuire single, featured in Billboard Magazine on December 25, 1965, and peaked at # 4 in Pop on March 12, 1966 Hit parade . This first single of the group became a million seller in 1966 and was awarded the gold record in June 1966 . The original California Dreamin ' is included on Barry McGuire's LP This Precious Time (Dunhill # 50 005), released on December 14, 1965 . Bud Shank recorded the song as an instrumental for his LP of the same name on March 18 and 25, 1966.

Cover versions and awards

Of the 56 cover versions , those by Bobby Womack (December 1968), Colorado (October 1978), America (March 1979), River City People (June 1990) and in particular the version of the Royal Gigolos that won gold in France in October 2004 are worth mentioning . The German version with the title Your heart is cold as ice comes from Die Five Tops ( Leo Leandros ) from 1966 (A-side: Our sun ). On the RIAA's list of 365 songs of the 20th century ( Songs of the Century ) compiled by the RIAA in March 2001 , California Dreamin ' ranks 71st. The song was also voted 89th of the 500 best songs of all time by Rolling Stone magazine .

More cover versions

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susan Stramberg's NPR interview with Michelle Phillips, July 8, 2002.
  2. ↑ NPR Radio on California Dreamin ' .
  3. ↑ Jim Cogan / William Clark, Temples of Sound , 2002, p. 33.
  4. ^ Rob Finnis, You Heard it Here First - Vol. 2 , Liner Notes, 2010, p. 7.
  5. ↑ Obituary at JazzTimes.com : Bud Shank, alto saxophonist, Dies at 82 ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jazztimes.com
  6. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, pp. 210 f.
  7. ^ Tsort Song Artist 237
  8. ^ Celebrity Websites, 365 Songs of the 20th Century .